The Pureblood and The Mudblood
by xominnow
Summary: The war isn't the only thing that's heating up Hogwarts as an unlikely friendship turns into something more.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! This is my first fanfic so please don't judge too harshly. I hope you enjoy this. I do not own anything Harry Potter; J.K. Rowling does.**

She knew it was late but there was no way she could sleep. With end of year exams coming up along with all of her close mate's drama to listen to, her mind was filled to the brim and ready to explode. Slipping out of her bed, she half-heartedly pulled her robes on over her pajamas and stuffed her feet into her shoes without bothering with socks.

It must have been around one in the morning when Hermione started slinking though the cold castle. Figuring that no one would be around to stop her she started thinking about how she was going to prepare for all of her finals amidst all of the chaos going on around her. The newly risen Dark Lord and his deatheaters were a huge threat to one of her best mates. It may have also concerned the entire world wizarding and muggle alike as well but who cared about all of them anyway. Her worry worsened with every passing day and it reflected in her schoolwork. She had trouble paying attention in class unless it was hands on, she was tired all the time but could never sleep and when she did she was plagued by the worst night terrors imaginable.

Hermione must have been walking in circles for at least a half an hour; her footsteps fell in time with the snores of the magical paintings that hung on the walls.

All of a sudden she heard a shuffling that was very out of place in the otherwise silent castle. Unable to breathe, she slowly moved along the edge of the corridor and peered ever so slightly around the corner. If she couldn't breathe before, she may as well have had a heart attack at the sight before her.

She saw Malfoy sitting in the middle of the next corridor speaking softly with one of the portraits on the wall. He looked so different compared to the Draco everyone normally saw. Sitting there, though she couldn't hear much of what was being whispered, she heard no cusses and no insults growled. She witnessed no hints of disgust on his face. He seemed to be relaxed and having a pleasant conversation with the portrait of a man on horse decorated with armor and a sword. He must not have been able to sleep either. She could see dark rims lining his beautiful gray eyes, and his sleek figure was slumped slightly forward so that his head rested in his hands.

Hermione smiled to herself as she watched this gentle version of a monster rub at his eyes sleepily and start to head back to the Slytherin wing. She turned herself and headed back for bed. For a moment she was able to forget about all the bad things going on. Even as she watched a death eater sit in the hallways she was unable to feel angry or worried; she felt too peaceful. As she slipped into bed, she found herself thinking of what it would be like to speak with the real Draco Malfoy. The one she had seen in the corridor that night, instead of the rude, impatient, hateful deatheater he normally portrayed.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face, if only for a moment.

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Draco said goodnight to the knight he was trading stories with. It was funny to find out how much they had in common. How they had both been pulled under into the darkness of hatred by their parents and hard times.

He stopped when he heard a strange noise coming from behind him and briefly looked over his shoulder. He couldn't see anyone and continued on the path back to his dorm before anyone could notice he went missing. What would his peers say if they found out that he felt that all the fighting was stupid? When blood was spilled, wasn't it all red anyway?


	2. Chapter 2

Draco sat at breakfast the next morning with the usual suspects. He sat joking around with Blaise Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle. They didn't notice that he was barely picking at his food. Everything upset him these days making him not feel hungry. Once his posse started throwing things at one another he had enough. His temper was almost as short as his father's.

"Will you guys stop acting so foolish?!" He screamed. "You make fourth year's look mature! Keep in mind that we are supposed to be the most feared students in attendance at Hogwarts." By this time, his face was tomato red.

_These morons will ruin my reputation and then I will have to explain to my father what a softie I really am_ he thought to himself as he rushed away from the Slytherin table. He left the great hall in favor of a more relaxed potions room, even if he did have to share it with an old and grumpy spy.

He walked up to the door and knocked four times, spacing them out just so. When he heard a muffled "come in" he opened the door just enough so that he could sneak through and slid in shutting the door softly behind him.

"Good morning, Godfather," he offered to the man sitting behind the desk.

Draco often found him like this. Nothing in his hands to read, no music playing, nothing in sight to occupy his time and yet, he always seemed to be so consumed in something.

"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy. Is there something in particular that I can assist you with or are you just here to waste my time?" he asked not sparing any pleasantries.

"More of my wasting your time I guess," Draco replied

"Do you sleep at all these days? You look like the walking dead only they at least have the courtesy to actually be dead." Professor Snape drawled looking Draco up and down.

By this point in his life, Draco was used to being judged harshly. Everything he did was a test. Most tests he failed. He ignored his Godfather and made his way around the room; inspecting objects he had seen millions of times.

"How do you do it? How do you deal with all of the ignorant assholes in the deatheaters when you are really working for Dumbledore?" Draco had known for some time now that Snape held no interest in helping the Dark Lord, though he played his role as right hand man quite convincingly. He had no idea though, how he had ended up on the Dark Lord's side to begin with.

Snape sighed and Draco rolled his eyes. If anyone thought it was impossible to be impatient with someone's impatience, they were very wrong.

"I have told you time and time again boy, I have my reasons for my actions and they do not concern a child like you" Snape snapped and went back to doing whatever it was he did all the time.

Draco ran a hand through his hair a little too hard and wound up pulling a few strands out. "Maybe if I could find some friends who weren't such ignorant asshats then I wouldn't have to bother you all the time," Draco commented. The frustration in his words was all but visible

"You are going to be late for you first class if you don't stop complaining and get your sorry ass out of here. Then you would really start to raise some red flags with the wrong people. Wouldn't want that now would we?" Snape almost smiled. Though his words were cruel Draco knew he was doing him a favor by watching out and covering up for him.

Draco grimaced at the tired potions teacher.

"Time to go deal with two retards and one insufferable know it all I guess."

Draco may not have agreed with his family or the rest of the deatheaters, but that certainly didn't give him any reason to like Potter and the gang.

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Hermione watched as Draco pushed his was into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. He seemed to be back to his usual rude and crude self. She sighed; she guessed it must have been too good to be true.

Ron had finally worked up the courage to sit next to her in class. She knew he had a crush on her but he certainly didn't act like it. To be honest she didn't know if she wanted him to anymore. She was tired of waiting on him to make the first move. She thought he was handsome through his goofy looks and charming through his clumsiness, however she couldn't take having him pretend to not notice her feelings anymore.

It was time for her to move on and she knew it. She had spoken to Harry about it before and he agreed whole-heartedly. They were taking notes today in class and Hermione couldn't even work up the energy to raise her hands to answer questions she clearly knew all about. All she could think about was what it was going to be like when the war moved into the school and what she could do to protect her friends.

She imagined Draco on the opposite side of them, wand raised, though she couldn't picture him casting any spells against them. Instead she pictured him falling to the ground with the portrait of the knight clutched in his strong hands.

"Miss Granger!"

"Yes Professor," Hermione's head popped up and she mentally cursed herself from getting so lost in her thoughts.

"20 points from Gryffindor. Next time maybe you will stay out of you day dreams and here in the classroom where you belong. I'm sure your fantasies will not be of much use to you once this war is in full swing again," the professor huffed.

"Sorry Professor, it won't happen again," Hermione blushed

At the end of class Harry and Ron ran to catch up with her as she was rushing down the corridor.

"Are you feeling alright Hermione?" Ron asked with genuine concern reaching for her hand.

"I'm fine, I just didn't get enough sleep last night is all," she said

Harry shot her a worried glance that said they would have to have words later. Hermione nodded back at him and started for her next class.

As she turned around she ran right into a platinum haired boy who immediately looked down on her like she was some type of scum bag.

"Watch it mudblood!" he spat and went on his own way. His words shouldn't have hurt her after all of these years, but for some reason today they stung more than they had in a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I noticed that at least a couple people have followed my story and I really appreciate it. If you could leave comments at the end I would truly love to hear your thoughts and I will try to post every day. That being said I hope you enjoy this next stretch. **

Hermione went through the rest of her day, from class to class, in a trance like state as the word mudblood slowly faded from her ears. Though she never could get used to the foul word, Hermione felt that she had built up a tremendous tolerance for all of the insults that were thrown at the people who were not "pure." All she could think about was the dirty word coming out of the boy who sat with the knight.

She couldn't possibly be feeling surprised, she didn't know what she was feeling. She was feeling hurt. But it was Draco Malfoy after all. This is the same jerk she had been dealing with since first year; there was no reason for him to change now.

Dinner finally rolled around, and though she seriously considered skipping. She came to the conclusion that that would be a little overdramatic and decided to go sit with her friends, even if she had no appetite. She sat in between Harry and Ron who carefully avoided all subjects having to do with the day's events. They spoke of the upcoming quidditch match that Harry was to participate in and how Ravenclaw hadn't won a game all season, so it shouldn't be very difficult to defeat them this time.

While Hermione was speaking with the boys, they handed her food which she absentmindedly ate. Hermione could see that they though she didn't notice, but she was too grateful of their efforts to tell them otherwise. She realized that she shouldn't have pushed the only two people who have been by her side the whole time away. While she felt that they could be extremely overbearing at times, they were just doing what they thought was best for her, and she would always do the same.

She couldn't help but glance up at the Slytherin table every once in a while. She secretly hoped that she would be able to catch a glance at the boy she had seen the night before instead of the boy she had run into in the corridor earlier that day. She had never noticed how gentle his features were before. Very masculine, yet the outline of his face was almost graceful. She saw him all the time, but she had never taken the time to really look at him before. She looked down before she could start blushing. _What am I doing?_ She asked herself. This was ridiculous. _This isn't me; I must be going crazy _she concluded in her mind.

When she looked up she realized that she had either missed something really important or the boys were waiting for a response to a question she hadn't heard.

"I'm sorry I must have zoned out for a second," she said in response to the 'deer in headlights' looks that she was receiving.

"We just asked if you were feeling okay. You looked really pale and lost there for a moment," Ron said to her softly as he brushed his hand over hers. This time, she actually let him take it. She squeezed his hand a little to let him know that she was alright.

"I'm just a little stressed, that's all," she said to both of them

"A little stressed? It seems as if you aren't even here with us sometimes," Harry said sounding very concerned.

Hermione smiled. She loved Harry. He was the brother that she had always wished she had when she was in the muggle world. She hadn't gotten picked on often, but when she did no one was even brave enough- or stupid enough- to stand up for her. She admired Harry's bravery, even if sometimes she felt it was foolish of him to act before thinking of what consequences it may bring.

"I'll be okay as soon as final exams are out of the way and we get all of this You-Know-Who business sorted out. And besides, I haven't slept very well these past couple of days. After a good night's shut eye I will be right as rain." She tried to sound as cheerful as possible, but she knew they could tell that it was bothering her more than she was willing to let on.

"Of course," Ron said, clearly trying to appease her, "why don't you get to the dorms early and catch a few extra hours of rest." His face was smiling, but his eyes were filled with something else though Hermione couldn't quite place it.

She didn't try to either. She took the opportunity to get some alone time and said goodnight to her two best mates. She needed some time to think without having to worry about class going on all around her and bumping into people while walking through the hallways. She snuck up to the library which had been closed already for the night and opened the locked door easily using alohomora. She padded softly through the expanse library as to not make enough noise to draw attention to her in the room and put her books down on a large table while she went to find more materials to study for exams.

She felt more at ease roaming the silent library that night than she had felt in weeks. Even though it was after hours and she was technically breaking the rules, it wasn't like she was looking up things in the forbidden section, she was studying. She was hoping that the stillness would help her focus on the task at hand and maybe she could finish early and do some extracurricular reading. The thought made her giddy and she quickened her pace through the eerie aisles of bookshelves to find the proper materials to study with.

After a while of studying and looking up some new spells to try out later, Hermione decided it was time to go back to the dormitory before she could get into any more trouble for the day. As she was packing up her things, she heard the front door shut and gasped. She ran into the corner, careful not to leave any of her personal belongings on the desk and casted a quick disillusionment spell on herself.

She was too scared to even breathe and before long she was cursing herself for risking being in the library this late. She realized she didn't even bother to relock to door after she had entered. _Bloody hell! How could this day have gotten any worse?! I have to be the only person stupid enough to get caught studying in the library after hours._

Hermione continued to stand in the corner, still as a statue, afraid that the other person in the library would hear her. The thought was ridiculous of course. It was a large room but there was almost no echo. The person was also obviously across the room from her anyway. Hermione finally figured that she would rather be paranoid when the time came to fight Voldemort than to grow too comfortable with strange noises. She slid down the wall until she was half sitting half crouching in the corner and waited for the perfect time to make her escape.

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Draco, being the prefect for Slytherin house, was able to roam the corridors at night without too much trouble. Tonight however, he was looking for something particular. Draco was looking for a way to keep the Dark Lord and his father from using magic to get inside his head to see that he was not on their side, not really. He was using them for now. This kept him safe, and it kept him from losing his family for now.

Draco didn't understand what was wrong with him. His whole family was committed to the Dark Lord. They were all purebloods and he was raised to believe that they were superior to all other witches and wizards. So what made him feel so bad about being against everyone else? _Maybe the old man finally got to me _he thought to himself as he started sorting through books looking for spells that he could try. Professor Snape had promised to help him prepare himself for anything that may come his way, including this spell to block his mind from other witches and wizards.

As far as Draco knew, he was the only one besides Dumbledore who knew that Snape was on their side. He thought back to the day that Snape had first told him that he was Dumbledore's spy. He had gone to the potion master's office and sat in the chair across from his godfather's desk. He was tired and stressed with huge bags under his eyes. He was deathly skinny; in fact he looked like he might fall over at any moment. He had never been so scared in his entire life. His father had just explained to him all of the benefits of being on "the winning team." He had also just explained that killing people was the reward. Draco's vocabulary word of the day was genocide.

He looked up at his godfather who just sat there staring at him.

"I'm not sure that I will be able to do it," he remembered saying. It was more like a whisper. He sat praying that his godfather's response would be to motivate him and not to kill him.

"I don't have any faith that you will be able to kill any innocents at all," Snape had replied bluntly.

Draco stared at him dumbfounded.

"So what are you going to do to me?" Draco asked knowing full well that Severus Snape was Voldemort's right hand man.

"I'm going to tell you a secret," he responded his face changing from the hard grimace he often wore to a softer, more parental smile. Draco smiled as he remembered the frown he had worn when the professor had said that.

"You don't have to be the bad guy," he remembered him saying. "Life is full of choices, and I made mine years ago to be a spy for Dumbledore. I can help you if you are willing to be helped," he had said.

From then on Draco trusted him more than anyone else in the world. He did not take any words of advice from his godfather lightly. He did as he was told, and right now his orders were to play nicely with the family and to not get caught thinking any other word than "pure" around those who were persuaded by the other side.

Draco sat down at a table with a stack of books that he started to look through. He was having trouble keeping his focus for some reason. Maybe it was because he hadn't been sleeping well. Maybe it was because of how frustrated he was with himself. Maybe he was just stressed because the war was heating up and he still wasn't prepared to look his family in the eye and betray them.

They had all just gotten word today that deatheaters were being spotted wreaking their havoc; showing everyone that they were back and more powerful than ever. No one was allowed to leave castle grounds for the upcoming holiday. Dumbledore had deemed Hogwarts the safest place for all of the students during Christmas and has invited parents to come visit the students instead. Draco was sure however, that his dear old dad would not be joining him on the holiday.

Draco read through a couple more pages and decided that his attempts to find spells was not going to get him anywhere that night and he may as well try to catch what little time he had left to sleep. He turned to put all of his books away but noticed that someone else had left a lone book on one of the table about four meters from where he was standing.

He put his books back and decided to go over and have a peek at the book; maybe he could find some spells someone else was practicing. Picking it up, he saw the name Granger written neatly at the top of book. He snickered to himself. _It would be the neurotic Granger's now wouldn't? It is just so fitting _he thought to himself. He started leafing through the pages as he unconsciously walked around the table.

Suddenly he felt himself kick something on the ground. When he looked down he didn't seen anything. He took out his wand and discretely cast lumos. He used the lit tip of his wand to take a closer look but still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

_That's strange_ he thought. _I know I couldn't have kicked the wall I'm not nearly close enough. _

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" He asked the air hoping that there was actually someone there and it hadn't just been his imagination.

"Confundo!" He heard a female voice cry.

The next thing he could clearly remember was a frizzy brunette standing over him looking extremely flustered and blushing slightly. He couldn't quite make out who it was though, the spell still obviously messing with his brain. His first thought was to fight back as he jumped up to his feet and pulled out his wand from inside of his robes.

"Now that's not how we greet people. Where are your manners? You could have at least said hello first," he joked still fuzzy. But now he was angry and he was ready to pick a fight.

**I know there hasn't been much Dramione action yet but I promise that it is coming soon! Please review **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. Sorry I know that I kind of popped up and then disappeared but I had a lot of family issues and then getting ready for school but now I should be updating at least once a week from here on out. **

**Disclaimer: As much as I wish I was brilliant enough to write Harry Potter all of that credit must go to the one and only J.K. Rowling.**

_It would be Draco! _Hermione thought to herself. She felt more than a little confused as to why he would be in here after hours but then again he could be asking her the same question. Well right now he could be asking all sorts of questions since he must be all but out of his mind after the Confundo spell she just cast on him.

It had only taken her a second after he walked over to the corner where she was crouching for her to recognize the Slytherin. She wasn't even quite sure why she felt the need to begin what she thought could become an epic duel in the night with him. Maybe it was all of her pent up feelings from earlier when he had called her the M word. Maybe she just wanted to see if she could beat him. She was- after all- in a never ending competition with him, wasn't she?

He started to try and disarm her immediately using expelliarmus, but his aim was still a little off and she was able to easily dodge all of his attempts.

After she had regained some of her wits without really knowing she had lost them in the first place, she quickly disarmed him and walked up to him holding her wand clean to his throat. "Malfoy! What in the world could you be doing in here at nearly two in the morning?!" She hadn't meant to sound loud but due to how silent it had been everything sounded amplified. All of the hexes she had had in her head had fled her mind and instead of going after him like originally planned her wand seemed to lower itself to her side of its own accord.

"Oi Granger, it would be you in the bloody library after hours. Why don't you set up a fucking cot in here? It'd be more comfortable," he said, his voice thick with sarcasm with just a hint of malice. Hermione could clearly tell he was looking to see which direction his wand had been thrown.

Carefully avoiding looking in the general direction of his wand she cleared her throat to let him know she wanted his full attention. She was hoping to distract him in case he was still planning on trying to take her out. When he finally looked at her, she gave a satisfied grin and started talking again.

"I have a dorm with a cot and not that it's any of your business but I have been having issues sleeping and thought that some quick studying could help. It was working too until you decided to ruin the peace," she sneered. _I can't believe that I actually just sneered at Draco Malfoy, King of all Sneers! _She almost laughed out loud at the shock that showed in his face, but instead opted to just look at him disdainfully. She really wished she could just give him a taste of his own medicine for once but she knew that nothing she did could ever make him feel inferior. Not even her marks in class could make him feel like she were anywhere on the social ladder but below him.

She tried to push those thoughts aside as he was clearly thinking of a good enough comeback although for the moment he seemed to be at a loss for words. She ginned even wider at this and now it was his turn to sneer.

"Quit it with all the smugness Granger. You disarmed me while I was blindsided. Hip-hip hooray, maybe your lot will throw you a party or something. I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be courageous and not cowardly," He grumbled though he knew that the Confundo spell was brilliant.

After giving it a moment of thought she decided that she didn't have to feel any shame in defending herself when he couldn't see her. After all he obviously had realized she was there and he had scared the wits out of her first.

"'Anything is fair in love and war'," Hermione quoted not sure whether or not he would get the reference.

"How truly cliché," he commented still looking for his wand. He laughed at her when he looked up at her face.

"Don't tell me that a Malfoy has read Muggle literature," She said trying to mask how completely dumbfounded she felt after realizing he had heard the saying before.

She heard him cackle a moment while watching him bend down to pick up the wand that he had finally spotted which had rolled a few meters behind him underneath of another table. She felt something in the pit of her stomach, but right when she was about to say that he was good looking she decided to categorize the feeling as fear instead of admitting that she may or may not find Malfoy attractive.

"Oh right because I am a pureblood means I have to be completely daft when it comes to all things Muggle. How very narrow minded of you Granger. In order to deem ones' society useless one must first have at least some basic knowledge as to why it's useless. I think so anyway," He checked his wand for damage and then brushed invisible dirt from his robes.

Hermione blushed and hoped that he didn't notice. She hadn't thought about it that way. She just assumed that, by this point, they would need no proof the Muggles were low lives. She had started to make her way over to her things to leave when she felt a hand at her arm. She felt terrified at the things that he could do to her. Never the less, she put on her bravest face and looked up to meet his gray eyes.

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He had grabbed her arm with all intention to try and intimidate her but when she looked up at him he lost all train of thought. She had no idea what he had been planning to do to her, but still she had a determined look in her eye like she was ready to fight. Draco didn't want to admit it to himself, but he really admired that about her. Every time he made fun of her, every time he tried to mentally bring her down, she always stood up as tall as she could and fought back.

No matter what he did, the longer he looked into those eyes the more he thought about all of the times he could have considered himself to be a coward. He couldn't even stand up to his own father. _Bloody_ _bullocks! _He cursed himself internally sure that one day a stunt like this would make everyone realize that he didn't stand up for the same "morals" as the rest of the purebloods. He tried once more to come up with a way to make her cringe but came up blank over and over again. He just shook his head and let go of her arm.

He saw her look at him with disbelief, but he ignored her and just walked out of the library without bothering to grab any of his personal belongings. If they questioned him about it tomorrow he would just have to say he left them there yesterday by accident and insist they overlooked them in their final checks at the end of the night. He could get away with it. Snape would back him up, just like he always has.

He walked around the corner cursing himself. He should have fought harder, but when he looked at her he was at a loss for words. _When the bloody hell did Granger become so admirable? _He stopped himself dead in his tracks. _I didn't just think that. There is no way I can have any sort of civil feeling towards that bushy haired know-it-all. _Draco shook himself and started down the corridor once more.

On his way down to his common room he kept of trying to diagnose himself. After all he must be feeling ill. He may be on the good side of the war, but he certainly didn't want to become all buddy buddy with Granger. No it was way too much fun to bicker with her. _Fun to bicker with her?! _ _Time to see Madame Pomfrey for sure!_ He thought to himself and resolved to go see her in the morning.

All night he tossed and turned unable to get Granger's determined look out of his mind.

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When Hermione slipped under the covers that evening she thanked Merlin and all of her lucky stars that Draco didn't try anything. He could have easily hexed or worse. She would have been defenseless, he must have known that. The only thing she could think of was that he was waiting until he could blindside her just as she had him. She didn't sleep that night. It was like there were menacing shadows of Malfoy looming in every corner of her dorm.

**A/N Okay so I know I am a bit out of practice but please review! The truth may hurt but I would rather make corrections than write an awful story :/ Are Draco's true feelings for Hermione starting to show? We'll find out soon enough ;)**


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